Bumblebee flight performance in environments of different proximity.
(2015) In Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology- Abstract
- Flying animals are capable of navigating through environments of different complexity with high precision. To control their flight when negotiating narrow tunnels, bees and birds use the magnitude of apparent image motion (known as optic flow) generated by the walls. In their natural habitat, however, these animals would encounter both cluttered and open environments. Here, we investigate how large changes in the proximity of nearby surfaces affect optic flow-based flight control strategies. We trained bumblebees to fly along a flight and recorded how the distance between the walls-from 60 cm to 240 cm-affected their flight control. Our results reveal that, as tunnel width increases, both lateral position and ground speed become... (More)
- Flying animals are capable of navigating through environments of different complexity with high precision. To control their flight when negotiating narrow tunnels, bees and birds use the magnitude of apparent image motion (known as optic flow) generated by the walls. In their natural habitat, however, these animals would encounter both cluttered and open environments. Here, we investigate how large changes in the proximity of nearby surfaces affect optic flow-based flight control strategies. We trained bumblebees to fly along a flight and recorded how the distance between the walls-from 60 cm to 240 cm-affected their flight control. Our results reveal that, as tunnel width increases, both lateral position and ground speed become increasingly variable. We also find that optic flow information from the ground has an increasing influence on flight control, suggesting that bumblebees measure optic flow flexibly over a large lateral and ventral field of view, depending on where the highest magnitude of optic flow occurs. A consequence of this strategy is that, when flying in narrow spaces, bumblebees use optic flow information from the nearby obstacles to control flight, while in more open spaces they rely primarily on optic flow cues from the ground. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8234351
- author
- Linander, Nellie LU ; Baird, Emily LU and Dacke, Marie LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015-11-27
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:26614094
- scopus:84955390644
- wos:000370822000003
- pmid:26614094
- ISSN
- 1432-1351
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00359-015-1055-y
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1751ebf8-1533-4fa9-a9c4-12ba049c5f57 (old id 8234351)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:55:15
- date last changed
- 2024-05-09 06:33:48
@article{1751ebf8-1533-4fa9-a9c4-12ba049c5f57,
abstract = {{Flying animals are capable of navigating through environments of different complexity with high precision. To control their flight when negotiating narrow tunnels, bees and birds use the magnitude of apparent image motion (known as optic flow) generated by the walls. In their natural habitat, however, these animals would encounter both cluttered and open environments. Here, we investigate how large changes in the proximity of nearby surfaces affect optic flow-based flight control strategies. We trained bumblebees to fly along a flight and recorded how the distance between the walls-from 60 cm to 240 cm-affected their flight control. Our results reveal that, as tunnel width increases, both lateral position and ground speed become increasingly variable. We also find that optic flow information from the ground has an increasing influence on flight control, suggesting that bumblebees measure optic flow flexibly over a large lateral and ventral field of view, depending on where the highest magnitude of optic flow occurs. A consequence of this strategy is that, when flying in narrow spaces, bumblebees use optic flow information from the nearby obstacles to control flight, while in more open spaces they rely primarily on optic flow cues from the ground.}},
author = {{Linander, Nellie and Baird, Emily and Dacke, Marie}},
issn = {{1432-1351}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology}},
title = {{Bumblebee flight performance in environments of different proximity.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00359-015-1055-y}},
doi = {{10.1007/s00359-015-1055-y}},
year = {{2015}},
}